Virus by Sakyo Komatsu The Day of Resurrection

In this classic of Japanese SF from 1964, American astronauts on a space mission discover a strange virus and bring it to Earth, where rogue scientists transform it into a fatal version of the flu. After the virulent virus is released, nearly all human life on Earth is wiped out save for just ten thousand men and a handful of women living in research stations in Antarctica. Then one of the researchers realizes that a major earthquake in the now-depopulated United States may lead to nuclear Armageddon…

About the author:Sakyo Komatsu was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1931 and graduated from Kyoto University with a degree in Italian Literature in 1954. He began writing in college and turned to science fiction in 1959, winning the Twenty-Seventh Annual Japan Mystery Writer’s Association Award with the publication of Japan Sinks in 1973 and the Japan SF Award for his Tokyo Vanished in 1985. He’s also the six-time winner of the Seiun Award.As a screenwriter, director, and producer, he brought the movie version of his novel Bye-Bye Jupiter to the screen in 1984. Komatsu has participated in the production of a number of large public events, including the Japan World Exposition in Osaka (1970) as an assistant producer of the theme pavilion, the Tsukuba Science Exposition (1985), the Silk Road Exposition in Nara (1988), and the International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka (1990). His work on this last event as general producer earned him the Osaka Cultural Award. In 2007, he was the author Guest of Honor at the World Science Fiction Convention, the first to be held in Asia. Komatsu passed away in July 2011.